Linda O'Malley, director of Oakwood Presbyterian Church & Community Center in Troy, accepts the National Register of Historic listing from Ruth Pierpoint of the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. (Mike McMahon / The Record)

TROY -- Getting the Oakwood Avenue Presbyterian Church on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places was really just the first step for church and Community Center Director Linda O'Malley on the way to building a bridge between a divided community.

The church, built in 1868, was nominated in September 2012 and was awarded a place on the registry this year. For O'Malley, this means having better access to grant funding to fix up the church and preserve a community meeting place for various alternative forms of progressive thinking. For the community at large, it is preserving an iconic relic many people drive by each day on Hoosick Street.

"This is a wonderful milestone for a structure that is unique and means so much to Troy," said Mayor Lou Rosamilia, adding the process was not a quick and easy one to go through. "Placement on the national registry is a fitting tribute for a place that is an example of the best this city has to offer."

For Kathleen LaFrank, the national register coordinator with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, preserving the church was preserving the history of the first church in the nation to integrate black members into its congregation.

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In 1962, the Liberty Street Presbyterian Church made a failed attempt to merge with the Oakwood Avenue church after elders nixed the plan. A compromise was soon formed when the Liberty Street congregation dissolved and members joined the Oakwood Avenue church.

The Oakwood Avenue Church's congregation took a blow as 10 percent of it left as well as five elders.

"This ugly episode reminds us integration in this country was a slow and painful process," LaFrank said.

LaFrank, a native of Troy, worked alongside O'Malley to get the church a place on the registry. It was help that was greatly appreciated by O'Malley as well.

O'Malley is now looking to the future and said they plan on tearing up the kitchen floor, and if everything is good to go, a new kitchen floor will be put in place. She's hoping to turn it into a community kitchen where people can hold community dinners. The tentative plan is to have community vegan dinners on the last Sunday of every other month.

The basement of the church is used for Alcoholics' Anonymous meetings, birthday parties, Troy Share, as well as a Hispanic congregation, a Christian Congregation and a Baptist congregation to hold worship services. There are also guest speakers at the church nearly every month.

"It does have a spirit of its own," O'Malley said, noting they had found flour sacks in the balcony meant to help those in need during the Great Depression. "There's a spirit of service. There's not an agenda here."

The makeup of the population on the church's side of Hoosick Street is different than on the other side, O'Malley said. The Hillside South is made up of college kids and homeowners while the other side is home to absentee landlords and the economically depressed. O'Malley hopes the church and community center can serve as a bridge between to two to bring the community closer together.

"If we can start to put the neighborhood back together, I think there are strengths that could develop from that," O'Malley said, adding the registry will give her some of that strength. "It feels good, It feels like we'll really be able to make this beautiful again."